Morning Brew - ☕️ Medieval music theory

Hello readers, it’s Dan—your favorite (only) senior editor of vertical newsletters at Morning Brew. 

In the last issue, Halie told you not to tell me (her editor) that she had more fun writing The Essentials than she does writing Retail Brew. I’ll just pretend I missed Wednesday’s issue. 

—Dan McCarthy

P.S. Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Giphy

I’m writing this newsletter from my air-conditioned, well-lit, wi-fi-equipped home in Connecticut. 

This time last week, I had none of those amenities. And neither did at least 3 million people between NC and NYC, after Hurricane Isaias wrecked its way up the east coast last Tuesday. A week after the storm, over 50,000 people in NY and CT remained without power. 

At least in CT, the slow recovery was partially the result of a major power company misclassifying the storm. So how about a refresher on storm classifications? 

• Tropical Depression: Winds less than 39 mph.

• Tropical Storm: Winds between 40 and 73 mph.

• Hurricane: Winds of 73 mph or higher. Isaias just crossed over into this category. 

• Waterspout: a tornado that forms over water rather than land. CT got one last week. 

The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale breaks hurricanes into categories ranging from 1–5, with 5 being the most severe. Since 1924, there have only been 35 documented Category 5 storms in North America. And just five hit the U.S. at that strength, most recently Hurricane Michael in 2018. 

This year, the Atlantic hurricane season “has the potential to be one of the busiest on record,” per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

• Prep: A generator would have been nice last week, but they’re $$$. Cheaper ways to deal with a sustained power outage: a good cooler, flashlights (and batteries), a propane-fueled camping stove (lifesaver for us), portable charging blocks, and lots of board games. 

• Stay informed: Cell service was out for us too, so we relied on the local high school’s radio station for updates. Find an equivalent station and save it for a rainy day. 

• Help: Search recent storms on GoFundMe and donate away.

Get dressed: Cozy clothes are the uniform of the pandemic era. This excellent NYT Magazine piece explains why that might be a sustained sartorial trend and what it would mean for the already-struggling fashion world. 

Get informed: At first, doctors thought there were two outcomes for a COVID patient: recovery or death. But as of July, the CDC acknowledged that a significant percentage of COVID patients have yet to fully recover. Of course, the patients in question—called “long-haulers”—have known this for several months. A large group of long-haulers, including several scientists, organized and ran a self-study months ago to try and get some answers. 

Get lost in a hole: University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab created an interactive map of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation’s early archives. HOLC initiated redlining, the practice of systematically discriminating against people—usually Black people—based on living area.

• Book rec: The government officially abandoned redlining in the 1970s, but its legacy reverberates throughout the U.S. today. For more, read Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's latest book, Race for Profit.

For pirates, X marks the buried treasure. 

But for modern humans seeking affordable and ethical home goods, X marks a Thrive Market membership.

Thrive Market is an online, membership-based market where you can buy your favorite organic brands. Members save an average of $32 on every order through their membership model, filling up their virtual carts with organic groceries, clean beauty products, nontoxic home goods, and more.

Such bounty—and they didn’t even have to pillage a passing merchant vessel to get it.

No, Thrive Market only condones ethical behavior. That’s why they deliver your goods with carbon-neutral shipping from their zero-waste warehouses. It’s also why they only peddle ethical meat, sustainable seafood, and clean wine.

Here’s an offer that’d bewilder any pirate: Get a FREE gift when you sign up for Thrive Market today.

We’re going (mostly) old school for this round: 

• Read: Books = vacation this year. Here are five novels (ok, technically eight) that are particularly immersive: East of Eden, Half of a Yellow Sun, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Underworld, Neapolitan Novels. 

• Play: "I don't know the rules but I'll remember how to play after a few rounds." Sound familiar? Shame on you (and me). It's time for all of us to actually learn the rules to a card game or two. Study up on Pagat.com, a charming web 1.0 guide to every card game under the sun, and apply the knowledge with your quarantine pod this weekend. 

• Do: If you have outdoor space, build a campfire and drink the beverage of your choice with some friends. If you don’t...light a few candles? Or settle for some campfire ASMR. 

Francis Scialabba

There is a lot to read, think, and talk about. All the time. One way to make it more manageable is to focus on one specific topic. 

Time for some structure: Start a video-based discussion group with like-minded friends and acquaintances.

Why do it? To hold yourself accountable to learning about a certain thing (and consistently socializing). 

How to do it? 

• Gauge interest, via an Insta story, Facebook post, emailing/texting people—whatever works.
• Create a syllabus. Figure out the big subtopics first, then the readings. How to find major works: check out forum discussions (e.g. Reddit), ask knowledgeable people, and, if all else fails, consult the listicles. 
• Figure out a time that works for everyone. When2meet is helpful here. 
• Determine your facilitation style and put thought into what a good session would look like. 
• Set up a recurring video call and an email thread or Slack group...and you’re off. 

I’m sold…but what do we talk about? Whatever! My weekly group discusses policing and prisons. But you could talk about anything from the U.S.-China trade war to medieval music theory.

For funsies: I’m also a fan of creating standing video calls just to hang out. I’ve had a lot of fun playing this choose-your-own adventure game and Jackbox games (here’s a list of the most popular ones, but Tee K.O. is the best.) 

Dan McCarthy

This is a photo I took from my Airbnb in Riogordo, Spain, last October. Riogordo is about an hour and a half from Granada, 40 minutes to the Mediterranean, and smack in the middle of the mountains. (For any film photography enthusiasts, I took this picture with a Canon AV-1 and Kodak Portra 400 film).

Have a lovely weekend everyone, and thanks for all the praise for the cat pictures I included last time—that was really why I put them there. We’ll be back Monday.